


Cosmic Love

by dyad (johnnycake)



Series: In the Bleak Midwinter... [4]
Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Love, Romance, prewar
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 01:34:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20331862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnycake/pseuds/dyad
Summary: The world was crumbling down around him. She was the only one who could make it stop.(different version of how they got together)





	Cosmic Love

**Author's Note:**

> so...in case ur wondering why i haven’t posted anything in the present day about these two in a while...it’s because i am an evil writer and want y’all to fall in love with them before i rip your heart out cause i know it’ll hurt more if you love them as a couple before i do that.
> 
> make sure to read the series notes if you're new here!!

The rain was coming down in sheets, drenching the world. Puddles that could’ve been mistaken for lakes or ponds filled the holes in the streets. Drops of water ran off the leaves of trees and rooftops so quickly, they could’ve been used for showers. Lightning crackled overhead, illuminating the world dark as night with quick bursts of brilliantly bright flashing lights. Thunder rumbled after making cats cower under couches and children quake in their beds, clutching their stuffed animals to their chests. Storms like this were rare in Birmingham. Every time one happened, the whole world seemed to stop moving, everyone rushing back to their homes, staring out their windows, waiting for it all to stop.

The only person out in the rain was a nineteen year old boy, his hands balled into shaking fists, his hair plastered to his forehead, his chest heaving as he walked down the cobbled Birmingham streets. He didn’t feel the rain or the chill slowly seeping into his bones through his soaked clothes. He didn’t see the world around him; he didn’t see the way the streetlamps, lit so early because of the premature darkness due to the thickness of the clouds overhead, shone twice: once from behind their glass, again on the pavement that reflected them.

He could feel nothing, see nothing. Because nothing mattered. Everything was lost, everything was broken and he couldn’t figure out anymore how anything could possibly change or get better.

The world had quite simply become too much.

He reached the edge of the city, all that lay beyond was dirt and forests and black nothingness.

Or so it seemed.

In those forests was a gypsy camp and in that gypsy camp was a girl, a girl he’d been in love with ever since he could remember, ever since he had known her. He closed his eyes, thinking about her now, tilting his head back, letting the rain run down his skin, cleansing him instead of damning him, a heavy breath escaping his lips, his tense shoulders slumping for the first time since he’d left the house what felt like hours ago, but had really only been minutes.

He opened his eyes again, staring up at the sky, blinking as rain hit his eyes.

The world was crumbling down around him.

She was the only one who could make it stop.

He looked back down into the dark before him and began to run.

The world continued to shatter as he ran, everything becoming too much so that by the time he reached her caravan and pounded on the door, his face was once again a grimace, his entire body was quivering and his hands were balled into fists so tight his knuckles were white as a sheet.

“Miri!” he yelled, his voice a guttural half scream, the sound of the destroyed. “Miri, please!”

The door opened almost immediately and for a moment, he stood frozen on her front steps, staring at her, his hand still raised.

Her beauty had always staggered him.

He was sure it always would.

“Thomas,” she breathed out. “What happened?”

The spell was broken, the question pulling him out of the trance. His grimace returned.

He stormed into the caravan, his hands going into his hair, running through it, pulling at the strands. He paced, gasping, his chest heaving. He stopped once at the table, bracing his arms against it, staring at nothing. He paced some more and slammed his fist into the wall.

“How could he do this to us?!” he finally screamed, not looking at Miri. “To me?! We just lost Mum and now he leaves us too?! What’s wrong with him?!”

_What’s wrong with me?_

“Your father,” Miri breathed. “He’s gone.”

She’d always been good at guessing what was wrong. She knew him better than anyone.

He turned to her, still grimacing, his wet hair still flopping into his eyes. “He’s gone, Mir,” he gasped. “He’s fucking gone. He packed his things and left in the night and no one bloody knows where he went!” The last bit came out as a scream and he rushed forward, sweeping everything off the table. He screamed then, a broken ragged sound that escaped him like it was being pulled out with knives.

He was on his knees, his hands curled into claws, still shrieking.

He wasn’t sure anymore if he knew how to stop.

“Tommy!” Miri gasped, running to him, draping her arms around his neck from behind. “Tommy! Please! It’s not your fault! It’s not! Your father is horrible for what he’s done, alright? It’s not your fault. I promise. I swear. It’s not your fault, Thomas.”

The screaming stopped, though he wasn’t sure when or how. He got to his feet, Miri’s arms falling away from him as he did. He ran a hand through his hair again, his entire body shaking, his hands shaking worst of all. He didn’t turn. He only knotted his fingers in his hair, pulling at it.

Miri came around so she was in front of him, her hands going to his face. “Tommy,” she said quietly. “It’s alright. It’s alright, I swear. I’m here. I’m not gonna leave you.”

He looked at her. “But for how long? How long until you leave me like him?”

She shook her head, swallowing, her eyes on his lips. “Never. Not ever.”

“How do you know?”

Her eyes flicked to his again, deep brown staring into bright blue.

Then very softly, very gently, she shut her eyes, closed the distance between them, and, with the feather-light touch of an angel, pressed her lips to his.

For a moment, Tommy was frozen, amazed, sure that this couldn’t be happening.

How many years had he been in love with Miri?

How many years had he dreamed of this moment?

How many times had he been sure it would never happen?

Then his eyes fluttered shut too, his arms slowly coming up, running up her back, holding her. One hand went to her face and he stepped forward until she pressed against the wall and he was kissing her, harder, harder, harder.

_I love you, Miri, _he thought the words a million times, but never said them with his mouth. He let his lips tell that story instead.

Miri’s echoed him: _I love you too, Thomas. I love you too._

Her hands undid the buttons on his shirt.

Tommy’s fingers undid the buttons on her dress.

He shrugged off his shirt.

She stepped out of her dress.

He turned as he this time backed her up until they met her bed.

She fell onto the mattress, laughing, smiling. A sound like chiming bells, like angels.

His hands ran over her a million times, feeling every inch of her as he moved against her.

Her hands ran over his back into his hair, knotting in it.

Their lips never parted for more than a few seconds at a time.

Outside the caravan, the rain still fell, the world was still ending, but within, Tommy was certain he’d found heaven.

**Author's Note:**

> there are several olafur arnalds songs here that deserve credit for inspiring this fic along with a few others, so i'll list em here:
> 
> \- happiness does not wait by olafur arnalds (for when tommy kisses miri and they make love)  
\- cumulus by imogen heap (same as above, but different song)  
\- tree by olafur arnalds (again: same as above, but different song)  
\- only the winds by olafur arnalds (for when tommy runs through the woods to miri)  
\- near light by olafur arnalds (same as above, just a different song)  
\- stay with me by clint mansell (just to throw in something sad that also inspired this)  
\- cosmic love by florence + the machine (because yeah that's where i got the title from obviously)


End file.
